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The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is not behaving like an independent media company in this election campaign.

They're not even acting like a left-wing state broadcaster anymore.

No: They are looking like a partisan advocacy group, determined to shape the outcome of the election campaign, not just report it.

That is unacceptable.

The CBC has sponsored a website they claim will tell you what party you best fit into. On Wednesday night, the CBC's Peter Mansbridge went further, telling viewers the website is how to "find out where you stand" in the election.

So now the CBC is in the business of telling Canadians what party they stand for. Thanks, but that's called campaigning, not reporting.

The CBC scheme uses a website, www.votecompass.ca that asks questions about your views, and then a magic formula pigeonholes you into a party.

And -- surprise, surprise -- the Liberal Party is the default setting if you are at all wishy-washy about anything. So, Vote Compass helps you out.

By telling you to vote Liberal.

Not exactly shocking, coming from the CBC that gorges on a billion tax dollars a year.

Try it out yourself. If you answer neutrally or "no opinion" to every question, it tells you you're for Michael Ignatieff.

Not surprisingly, the CBC has stonewalled requests to release their formula.

Why the secrecy? CBC spokesman Jeff Keay said there is no bias, "as far as we know." What does that mean? Has Keay even seen the formula? Whose word is he taking that it's fair?

Perhaps he's taking the word of Peter Loewen, the "director of analytics" for the Vote Compass. Loewen just happens to have been a policy adviser for Michael Ignatieff's 2006 Liberal leadership campaign.

No bias?

Or maybe Keay is taking the word of Richard Johnston, on Vote Compass's advisory board. Last month Johnston savaged Stephen Harper in the press, claiming he was destroying the "integrity" of government.

No bias?

It's possible that cadre of diehard Liberals can be neutral. But there's only one way to be sure: The formula that Vote Compass uses must be disclosed publicly.

But that's not all the CBC must disclose.

The website also asks Canadians for detailed demographic information, such as the riding they live in, their postal code, their age, their voting intentions and other personal details. All of which is very valuable to political parties.

Who gets that voter data? Loewen does. Has he shared it with his former boss, Ignatieff? Does the CBC even know? Or care?

Vote Compass is no different than a push poll. It pretends to be neutral, but it is designed to convince you of "where you stand".

It's grotesque that our tax dollars are going to such a campaign trick.

If Vote Compass is really a pro-Liberal website, run by a former Liberal insider like Loewen, it must be registered with Elections Canada as a third party advocacy group. Their revenues and expenditures must be disclosed. And their spending is limited -- in this case, to $150,000.

The CBC can't blow its nose without spending $150,000, let alone sponsor a website and advertise it night after night.

The CBC is acting like the Liberal Party. Fine. Let it survive on partisan donations, not tax dollars.